Secretary

Biodata of Mrs. Nidhi Khare, IAS (JH:1992)

•    An IAS officer of 1992 batch from Jharkhand Cadre. 
•    Presently working as Secretary to Government of India. 
•    Born in Jammu on 12th February 1968, she completed her studies at Dehradun and Lucknow, done her Masters’s in Biochemistry. 
•    Has served as District Collector in Madhubani, Jamshedpur and Dumka in the State of Bihar and Jharkhand.

Experience in the Government of India  (2008 to 2015 & 2018 to till date)

•    Presently posted as Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution w.e.f. 1st April 2024
•    Earlier she has worked as Secretary, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development. Was actively engaged in carrying out next level of transformation in Land Records Management and bringing transparency for the citizens in land administration.
•    Special / Additional Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. Was instrumental in setting up of Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), a regulatory body set up for class action against violations of Consumer Rights, Unfair Trade Practices, and Misleading Advertisement. As its first Chief Commissioner, she initiated more than 240 cases and disposed off 85 cases that included refund to consumers whose flight tickets got cancalled during COVID lockdown, imposing penalty against major IAS Coaching Institutes, online platforms for selling faulty pressure cookers etc. Apart from Consumer Protection, she was actively engaged at the transformation of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and National Test House (NTH) with setting up of world class testing laboratories and making mandatory hallmarking for gold ornaments. 
•    Served as Joint Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.
•    As Joint Secretary (DBT), she was instrumental in conceptualizing and implementing the nationally acclaimed programme of Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), wherein subsidies for LPG and entitlements such as Scholarships, Pensions, and wages under MGNREGA started reaching millions of beneficiaries seamlessly, without the middlemen, into their bank accounts. 

Experience in State Government (Jharkhand)

•    As Secretary (Commercial Taxes) (2015 to 2016), she tried to bring ease to the dealers by simplifying taxation and curbing evasion of tax through the use of Business Intelligence. She worked for implementation of GST framework.
•    As Principal Secretary, Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha (2016 to 2018), she was instrumental in dizitizing HR records of different sevices and streamlining their timely promotions etc.  She was also instrumental in providing 2% horizontal reservation to Primitive tribes to ensure their empowerment, a rare feat to happen anywhere in the country for primitive tribals.
•    As Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education, (From March 2018 onwards), she successfully implemented countrywide rollout of Ayushman Bharat from Jharkhand. 8 New Medical Colleges were opened. NITI Aayog appreciated Jharkhand for the fastest growth in Health Sector.